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Execute Shell |
Execute a command in the (UNIX or Windows) shell of the operating system.
Syntax
Execute Shell [ Select ; Result ; Shell command ; Timeout ; Wait on result ;
Encoding ; Wait time after exit ; Show command window ]
Options
| Select entire contents | replaces the contents of a field with the result. If not checked the result replaces the currently selected portion of the field |
| Result | the result of the shell command or an error code |
| Shell command | the command to be executed |
| Timeout | specify the timeout time in seconds (default = 20 seconds) |
| Wait on result | uncheck to execute the shell command without waiting on a result |
| Encoding | the desired character encoding, like UTF-8 |
| Wait time after exit | (Windows only) wait the specified seconds after the command finishes |
| Show command window | (Windows only) show the command window when the shell is running |
Returned Result
Data type returned
Text
Result
The result of the shell command or an error code
If an error occurs it will start with 2 dollars, followed by the error code. You should always check for errors. Returned error codes can be:
| $$-4218 | kErrCanNotEnable | can not start a shell |
| $$-4230 | kErrTimeout | timeout error |
Other errors may be returned.
Originated in
Troi File Plug-in 9.0
Compatibility
FileMaker Pro 16 to FileMaker Pro 2023
Considerations
This is a powerful step, with which you can accomplish multiple commands. Please read about the shell command in Unix or Windows before using this.
For Windows: to be able to use spaces and quotes in the command wrap the whole command in 2 extra double quotes, one at the beginning and one at the end, like “”C:\testapp.exe” “test param””
(Windows) If you choose UTF8 Encoding the plug-in indicates invalid UTF-8 characters with the string <INVALID UTF8>.
(macOS) If you need sudo (execute as superuser) you can do this like this:
echo "yourPassword" | sudo -S yourCommand variables etcFor example:
echo "topsecret" | sudo -S ls -alThis will execute the ls command as the superuser.
Example
On Windows:
Execute Shell [ Select ; gResult ; "dir C:\" ]On macOS :
Execute Shell [ Select ; gResult ; "ls /" ]This will list the contents of the root folder.
Example 2
On Windows:
Execute Shell [ Select ; gResult ; "echo testtext > C:\example.txt" ; Timeout: 5 ]On macOS :
Execute Shell [ Select ; gResult ; "echo testtext > /example.txt" ; Timeout: 5 ]This will create a text file example.txt on your startup disk. If the command takes more time than 5 seconds the plug-in will return with a timeout error $$-4230.
Related function
| TrFile_ExecuteShell |
Related topics
Troi File Plug-in online help (overview)
